Metropolitan Theodosius called on the UN to put an end to discrimination against the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

At the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Metropolitan Theodosius (Snigirev) of Cherkasy and Kaniv criticized the discriminatory policies toward the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In his video address, the bishop drew the international community’s attention to the problems of the forced mobilization of clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the systematic violation of their rights.

Bishop Theodosius pointed out the glaring inequality between representatives of different religious denominations in Ukraine. According to him, while clergy of other religious organizations receive lawful deferrals or are able to serve as military chaplains, representatives of the UOC are deprived of such opportunities. The hierarch noted that many priests were forcibly sent to the front, where many of them subsequently died or went missing.

In addition to issues of mobilization, the metropolitan raised the topic of legal persecution of bishops and clergy, as well as attempts to completely eliminate the legal status of the UOC’s church structures. Despite attention from international human rights organizations, the situation is not improving. In conclusion, the hierarch called on the UN to move beyond merely documenting violations of believers’ rights to taking decisive measures to effectively protect them.

As a reminder, we previously reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the submission to the UN, the OSCE, and the Vatican of a special report prepared by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which details violations of the rights of believers and the illegal actions of the Ukrainian authorities against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is already the third such document sent to international organizations to draw attention to the persecution of clergy and parishioners.